Bristol Palin
| died= | hometown= Wasilla, Alaska | knownfor= Activist | season= Dancing with the Stars 11 Dancing with the Stars 15 | partner= Mark Ballas (Season 11) Mark Ballas (Season 15) | place= 3rd (Season 11) 9th (Season 15) | highestscore= 27 (Paso Doble, Jive; Season 11) 24 (Rock n' Roll; Season 15) | lowestscore= 18 (Cha-Cha-Cha; Season 11) 18 (Quickstep; Season 15) | averagescore= 22.6 (Season 11) 21.0 (Season 15) }} Bristol Sheeran Marie Meyer is a celebrity from Season 11 and Season 15 of Dancing with the Stars. Early Life Palin was born and raised in Wasilla, Alaska. She was named "Bristol" after the Bristol Inn where her mother Sarah was employed; Bristol, Connecticut, the headquarters city of ESPN, where her mother Sarah hoped to work as a sportscaster; and the Bristol Bay area of Alaska, where her father Todd grew up. Beginning in 2005, Palin attended Juneau-Douglas High School. In 2008, she briefly lived in Anchorage with her aunt and uncle and attended West Anchorage High School. She returned to Wasilla, where she graduated from Wasilla High School in May 2009. Career Teen Pregnancy Prevention Spokesperson Palin first became the subject of media attention when her pregnancy was announced during her mother's unsuccessful run for Vice President. In February 2009, she told Fox News that abstinence is "not realistic at all," but that she would like it to become more accepted among people her age. In May 2009, at age eighteen, Palin began working with The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy to inform young people about the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy. The campaign's spokesman said that working with Palin made sense because "she's had the highest-profile teen pregnancy of the year." Palin said that her abstinence quote of February had been "taken out of context." Also in May 2009, Palin was named a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Ambassador for the Candie's Foundation, a teen pregnancy prevention organization that is a division of the Candie's clothing brand. Her duties as a paid spokeswoman involved attending town hall meetings, public service announcements, and giving interviews on morning talk shows. In May 2009, on Good Morning America, Palin said, "Regardless of what I did personally, abstinence is the only one hundred percent foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy." In another interview on Good Morning America in April 2010, she said that "Pause Before You Play (a campaign of Candie's) hits a wider range of message, it can mean pause and go get a condom, it can be pause and think about your life, or it could be pause and wait until marriage." Her role as a spokesperson drew some public criticism. Bonnie Fuller, former editor-in-chief of YM, questioned, shortly after Palin became a spokesperson, whether the net effect of Palin's presentations has glamorized rather than discouraged teen pregnancy, noting that the "picture perfect" imagery of a People magazine spread seemed to make her "the poster girl for teen momhood." That same month, Meghan McCain stated her support for sex education and criticized Palin's sexual abstinence campaign, saying it was "not realistic for this generation." In November 2010, former MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann declared Palin his "Worst Person in the World" for her advocacy, to which Palin replied "Accusing me of hypocrisy is by now, an old canard... Parents warn their children about the mistakes they made so they are not repeated. Former gang members travel to schools to educate teenagers about the risks of gang life. Recovered addicts lecture to others about the risks of alcohol and drug abuse. And yes, a teen mother talks about the benefits of preventing teen pregnancy." In April 2011 it was reported that Palin was paid more than $262,000 by Candie's Foundation for her work in 2009. This level of compensation, which constituted twelve percent of the foundation's annual budget, was criticized by some commentators as excessive. In a July 2011 interview with Drew Pinsky, Palin said she doesn't want to "be named as an abstinence preacher .... I'm not out there saying don't have sex. I hate that kind of stuff. Birth control needs to be used effectively each and every single time if you're gonna be having sex. ... I'm not advocating abstinence for everyone else." Business Venture In September 2009, Palin formed BSMP, a lobbying, public relations and political consulting services firm. While the initial focus was to be working with Candie's Foundation, BSMP planned to work with additional clients. Paid Speeches In May 2010, it was reported that Palin had signed with the company Single Source Speakers, asking between $15,000 and $30,000 for each appearance. She was listed on the company's website as available for conferences, fundraisers, special events and holidays, as well as women's, youth, abstinence, and pro-life programs. In January 2011, Palin was invited to speak at Sexual Responsibility Week at Washington University in St. Louis, but students protested the high fee she was to be paid out of student-generated funds. Her appearance was cancelled. Television The Secret Life of the American Teenager Palin appeared in an episode of the ABC Family network series, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, playing a friend of the fictional character Amy, a fifteen-year-old who is dealing with an unexpected pregnancy. She filmed the scenes in Los Angeles in March 2010; the episode aired 5 July 2010. "I like doing speaking engagements and stuff like that," she told E! "I don't think I'll be doing any more acting in the future." Sarah Palin's Alaska In November 2010, Bristol Palin made an appearance in the TLC travelogue/documentary, Sarah Palin's Alaska, helping on a commercial halibut fishing boat. Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp Palin's docu-series, Life's a Tripp, produced by Associated Television International, premiered 19 June 2012, in the United States, on Lifetime TV. Lifetime ordered fourteen episodes for original broadcast. The series followed Palin as she moved to Los Angeles, then back to Alaska, with two episodes set in Arizona, where her sister Willow was attending beauty school, and one episode in Washington, D.C. Music Video In October 2010, while competing in Dancing With the Stars Season 11, Palin appeared in a music video for an Alaskan symphony rock band, Static Cycle. The video was shot at the Ice Museum in Chena Hot Springs, Alaska, with Palin dressed in a fur hat and coat, playing a mother-nature-type role of melting the ice. Memoir In June 2011, Palin's memoir, Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far, co-authored by Nancy French, was released. In the book, Palin candidly discusses aspects of her personal life, including tensions with the McCain family and losing her virginity. The book received mixed reviews from critics and readers. It was a New York Times bestseller. Personal Life Pregnancy Announcement When Sarah Palin was chosen as John McCain's vice presidential running mate in late August 2008, his advisers already knew of Bristol's pregnancy, which they believed would be a political liability. On 1 September, the opening day of the 2008 Republican National Convention, it was publicly announced that Palin was pregnant and engaged to Levi Johnston, the father of her child. Palin's entire family, along with Johnston, appeared at the convention. McCain's advisers reportedly thought a wedding between Johnston and Palin would boost the waning popularity of the McCain-Palin ticket. Johnston denied claims that he was being pressured into a shotgun wedding, stating, "We were planning on getting married a long time ago with or without the kid. That was the plan from the start." Motherhood Palin and Johnston's son, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, was born in December 2008. She denied claims that her mother's pro-life views influenced her decision to give birth to and raise her son Tripp: "It doesn't matter what my mom's views are on it. It was my decision." Palin and Johnston ended their engagement in March 2009. In November 2009, a custody and child support case was filed in a local Alaska court. Palin asked the court to use pseudonyms for herself and Johnston to keep the normally public proceedings private, arguing that the media attention would not be good for the child. Johnston argued for open proceedings, saying he wanted the case to be decided on the merits, and that he did "not feel protected against Sarah Palin in a closed proceeding." In December 2009, on Tripp's first birthday, the judge ruled in favor of Johnston, and it was publicly announced that the pair had been battling for legal custody. Palin, who wished to win full custody rights and child support consistent with Johnston's income, stated that Johnston had "exercised sporadic visitation rights" and "wants the rights for his own self-promotion". Johnston sought shared custody and lower child support payments. In February 2010, a judge ruled that Johnston had to pay back child support, with a hearing set to determine the amount of ongoing support payments. That month, Palin and her son began living in a condo she had purchased in Anchorage, where she was working at a dermatologist's office and taking business courses at a community college. In July 2010, Palin and Johnston announced that they had reunited and were again engaged, but less than three weeks later, they ended their second engagement. In August 2010 she moved out of the condo and returned to her parents' home, and the couple reached an agreement giving primary custody to Palin and visitation rights and child support responsibility to Johnston. In December 2010, Palin purchased a five-bedroom house in Maricopa, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, for $172,000 in cash, according to Pinal County property records. The house was sold in May 2012 for $175,000 and Palin moved back to Alaska. It was announced 13 March 2015 on social media that Bristol became engaged to former Marine and Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer. According to Bristol's blog she first met Meyer in 2014 while filming Amazing America with her mother Sarah Palin in Alaska. On 18 May 2015, Palin's mother announced that the wedding planned for later in the week had been called off. Palin announced 25 June 2015 she was pregnant with her second child. In the announcement she stated the news would come as "a huge disappointment" to her friends and family but said she did not want any sympathy or lectures. Three days later she said that the pregnancy was "not the ideal situation" but was "planned." She said she would not consider abortion and her pregnancy was not in conflict with her work for the Candie's Foundation. She gave birth to daughter Sailor Grace Palin 23 December 2015. In June 2016, Palin and Meyer married. In December 2016, Palin announced that she was expecting her third child, the second with Meyer. In March 2017, Bristol Meyer and her husband announced they were having a second girl. Dancing with the Stars 11 She was partnered with Mark Ballas. They placed 3rd. Scores Dancing with the Stars 15 She was again partnered with Mark Ballas. They placed 9th. Scores Trivia * Her son Tripp Johnston competed in Dancing with the Stars: Juniors. Gallery Bristol_and_Mark_S11.jpg Mark-and-Bristol.jpg Bristol_and_Mark_S15.jpg Bristol and Mark S15 1.jpg dwts rock.jpg Bristol-profile-2012.jpg Category:Contestants Category:Females Category:Season 11 contestants Category:Season 15 contestants